Manliness Training
by MysticalStrawberry
Summary: Gumball decides he's tired of being ridiculed for being not quite as manly as some of the people he knows, so he goes to the best source he can think of; Marshall Lee. Eventually, everyone's giving Gumball tips on how to be manly, most of them conflicting. Will he ever figure out how to be a man?
1. Chapter 1

"I brought the macaroons!" Gumball entered the room, a tray of crimson red macaroons piled high on the crisp white plate. His pink apron was tied firmly around his waist and he seemed to be in a good mood.

Marshall eyed the macaroons from where he floated up ahead, strumming his axe-bass. "Take a pass, but thanks though." He glanced at Gumball, raising an eyebrow at the starched pink apron.

"They're rose flavored," Gumball gushed, excitedly.

LSPrince snickered. "I'm sure they'll be delicious… Gum."

"Gum?" Gumball questioned, looking puzzled.

"Because you're like, totally missing the balls," LSP laughed, tossing a macaroon in his mouth.

"I don't understand. I haven't thrown any balls recently…" Gumball knit his brows.

Marshall patted his shoulder. "Don't think too hard, GB." He snatched one of the macaroons, draining it with a single fang. "Not bad," he tossed the rest at a trash can. Out of nowhere, Muscle Prince dove past, catching the now-white macaroon in his mouth and eating it.

Gumball set the tray down. "I see… Well, thank you, Marshall," he straightened up.

"I brought tea for everyone!" Peppermint Maid showed up with a tray of tea. "It's my most delicious spearmint tea, assembled carefully by me from my own garden herbs. Please enjoy."

"Spearmint tea? Peps, you know I prefer the Earl Candy Corn tea," Gumball looked over at her.

"Of course, Prince Gumball. For you, I've brought a cup of Earl Candy Corn," Peppermint Maid handed the cup to him. Gumball was keenly aware of snickering from LSP and Turtle Prince but he chose to ignore it.

"Oh. Well… thank you." He took his seat at the table and sipped at the tea.

"Man this party is kind of on the lame side," Marshall looked around at all the pink streamers and balloons. "Think I'm gonna liven it up a bit." He lowered himself down onto a chair and started jamming. Gumball looked up at Marshall thoughtfully as he played. The other guests got more enthusiastic and the party seemed to liven up rather quickly.

Once the party was over, Gumball sat down in the same chair he'd sat in earlier and tucked his legs up, wrinkling his eyebrows, deep in thought. Peppermint Maid came in, carrying a cup of tea. "For you, my lord," she announced.

"Peps, I have a question," Gumball took the cup, still frowning. "Do you think that I'm not manly enough?"

"Wh-what would make you say that, Prince? Who did you hear this from?" her eyes flashed red a moment.

"No one. I was just wondering your opinion." Gumball studied her.

"Oh. Well… um, Prince, I believe that you are fine just as you are," she said, gracefully.

"Hmm… Very well. Thank you, Peppermint Maid. I appreciate it." Gumball leaned back, his cup of candy corn tea in his hand.

Once he finished his tea, he went back into the kitchen. He picked up his apron, and hesitantly put it on. _What am I so hesitant about?_ He stepped over to the refrigerator, pulling ingredients out. He reached for his spoon and held it in his hand. Suddenly, he was filled with a crushing doubt so he put the spoon and all the ingredients up again.

He untied his apron and gave it a long hard look, before tossing it in the trash. He left the kitchen and headed up to his room.

"I'm sure you're wondering why I've invited you here today," Gumball announced, his arms crossed across his lap.

"Yup. Dying of curiosity," Marshall strummed his bass a moment or two.

"The answer is this. I'm tired of being made fun of because people like Lumpy Space Prince do not think that I'm manly enough to be considered a man," Gumball looked heated. "So I want you to help me."

Marshall gave him a weird look, but he paused his strumming. "What? You want me to help you? Help you do what… exactly?"

"I would like for you to help me become more of a man." Gumball crossed his arms.

Marshall laughed at that. "That's HILARIOUS. You want me to help you become more manly? Why me? What am I, your ideal of manliness?" Marshall laughed. He lost the humor in the situation when Gumball's only reply was to look away. "Alright alright. Geez. Fine. I'll… help."

"Thank you, Marshall Lee. I really appreciate your help," Gumball brightened. "Come, I will bake some cookies in celebration."

"Uh-uh!" Marshall rose off the couch. "Step one, Gumball. No more baking. Baking is a chick thing, so stop doing it."

"What? But baking is science for hungry people!" Gumball looked surprised.

"No more baking," Marshall frowned. "Do you think you would EVER see me baking anything?"

"…" Gumball wrinkled his brows and scrunched his nose. "… N-no… I suppose not."

"Exactly." Marshall settled back against the chair again, his bass in his lap.

"So… what should I do? Play the piano?" Gumball made a face. "That's about all you do…"

"Piano? Keyboard. Men play keyboards."

Gumball sighed. "I feel like there will be more to this than I may have expected."

"I'm not even sure why you're doing it…" Marshall raised an eyebrow. "You're fine like this."

"I'm determined to no longer be a laughingstock! And if that means giving up baking and the piano, then that is what I must do," Gumball nodded.

Gumball headed toward the door, but Marshall planted himself between Gumball and the door. "Nope! Intercepted."

Gumball looked puzzled. "Excuse me."

"Nope." Marshall crossed his arms.

Gumball grew annoyed. "Why are you doing this? Please move."

"Men don't say please OR excuse me." Marshall didn't move.

"Well, what DO they say?" Gumball sighed.

"This is going to take a lot of work," Marshall sighed back, slumping over.

"When someone is stopping you from something you want, what do you do?"

"I take it!" Gumball nodded.

"When someone gets in your way?"

"I tell them to move." Gumball was excited, realizing he was getting the hang of it.

"What do men like to do?"

"Whatever they want!" Gumball frowned. "Except baking."

"Exactly. Except chick stuff. I think you're ready," Marshall was nodding his head.

"Good. I was getting tired of listening to you anyway," Gumball got to his feet. He'd changed into a more gender neutral red, and he was carrying himself a bit differently than usual.

Marshall was a little proud of the work he'd done. "Good commitment to character, GB. Better call the guys in for boys' night."

"Oh I'll call them," Gumball went to leave. Marshall decided to test him. He landed between Gumball and the door. He was surprise when, instead of Gumball saying anything, he punched Marshall in the face, sending him flying back and hitting the wall. "Don't GET in my way."

Marshall rubbed his face, confused, as Gumball continued heading out the door and down the hallway without a second thought. _I think this little exercise might have worked a little TOO well. He just tried to knock me out. … Well, this was the intention anyway. It's no big deal. It's what we wanted to happen! Just a little more… strongly than I expected. _


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: The scene between Marshall being depressed and Gumball figuring out what was going on… there was supposed to be a line break there indicating a time skip but ate it. :/ So there's been about a two week gap in between, which I should have stated… I'll know better next time.

About a week later, Gumball hosted the next boys' night, right on schedule. Fionna was invited to attend this one, and she'd eagerly stated that she would be going. Gumball stood in the center of the room, ordering his candy servants to set everything up. "NO, Cinnamon Bun! That bowl goes on the OTHER end of the table!" He raged.

"I- I'm sorry, Prince Gumball!" She rushed over to put it on the other end of the table.

Marshall floated silently behind Gumball, waiting for his chance to strike. At the moment Gumball was most distracted, Marshall apparated behind Gumball, grinning wickedly. "BOO!"

Gumball jumped, turning to face Marshall. "You startled me!" he said, sounding genuinely surprised.

Marshall laughed. "You hard at work getting everything set up?" He eyed Gumball's clothes and noticed they looked different than usual. He was wearing darker clothes, a nice combination of grays and reds. Marshall approved of the outfit but he wasn't sure they looked right on Gumball.

Grinning a bit, Marshall leaned forward, placing his face near Gumball's neck and sunk his teeth into the red hoodie Gumball had on. Gumball jumped, feeling Marshall's hair against his neck, and he turned crimson, freezing up, not sure what to do. "Wh-what…" The smell of Marshall's hair was all Gumball could focus on, too stunned by the event to process things correctly. After a moment, Gumball pushed him away. "Wh-what are you DOING?" Gumball quickly figured out what Marshall had done. "My red hoodie! You took all the red out of it! This was specially made for tonight!" he seemed like he was trying to be angry but Marshall would have none of it.

"And now it's your special WHITE hoodie. It was delicious, by the way," Marshall grinned. "Anyway, back to the discussion… Hard at work?"

"I… No, but my servants are," Gumball turned back to face everyone, his face crimson still. "Men don't decorate, Marshall." Marshall made a face. "Anyway, if… if you'll excuse me, I'm going to work on preparations for a minute or two. Hey, Peppermint Maid!…" he walked over to her. "I need you to prepare some drinks for my guests…" Marshall sunk down in one of Gumball's chairs, thinking.

_Man, Gumball's acting all crazy about this whole manly thing… I don't know… I feel like I should say something to him. I liked him the way he was before just fine, _Marshall frowned even harder. _He's just acting ridiculous… I wonder how I can get him to give up on this. _He silently reflected on what Gumball was doing and tried to figure out a way to fix the problem with Gumball.

Gumball walked back over to Marshall. "Well, anyway, things are just about done here," Gumball looked around. "Are you ready to party?"

"What do you have planned?" Marshall questioned.

"Well, you'll see," Gumball smiled a bit. "I hired a live entertainer!"

Marshall's face went from confused to terrified. _Oh glob. I hope he didn't hire a stripper. _"W-what kind of…?"

"It's a surprise!"

Marshall looked down at his hands, and then up at Gumball. "O-oh… I see…" Visions of a candy girl stripper dancing flashed before his eyes. _Taste my lollipops~ _Marshall visibly shuddered. "Well… I'm going to go… get something to drink. I see you have some red punch over there, and it looks delicious."

He floated up and drifted over to the punch bowl, wondering what kind of live entertainment Gumball had planned. He lingered there a few moments, trying to figure out what to do, if he should say something to Gumball. He returned with the punch, and he glanced over at Gumball. "Hey, Bubba,"

"Hm?" Gumball raised an eyebrow.

"I was just going to say, you don't have to ac-"

"Heyyyy, the party has ARRIVED," Lumpy Space Prince floated in, his arms spread wide. "Did I, like, miss anything?"

"Not at all! The party's just begun," Gumball explained.

"Gumball, you look SO good!" LSP complimented.

"Pff. Of course I do," Gumball waved him off.

LSP frowned, but quickly resumed his vigor. "Oh! Boys' night doesn't look quite so girly this time, and those treats look delicious!"

"Thank you, LSP," Gumball said, proudly.

LSP walked over and started eating the desserts. _Well… so far so good… he's not acting crazy… Although he's still not acting right… _

Gumball welcomed the entire crew into the room and they all started exclaiming and chatting about random things. LSP floated back over to Gumball. "So, Gum, what prompted all these weird changes?"

"Weird?" Gumball frowned, narrowing his eyes. "I didn't ask your opinion, LSP."

LSP looked surprised. "Wh-what? What did you say?"

"I said, I didn't ask your opinion, so I don't care to hear about it," Gumball crossed his arms. "And if you don't like my 'weird' changes, you can leave!"

_Uh-oh. He's getting out of control, _Marshall noted. _I should step in.. _"Hey, guys-"

"What's gotten into you? You're acting like a real jerk!" LSP blinked.

"Get out!" Gumball demanded. "All you ever do is complain and quite honestly, I'm getting sick of listening to it!"

LSP gasped. "F-fine! I'll go! But you'll regret this!" He took off out of the room, crying loudly as the doors slammed shut behind him.

"G-gumball," Marshall started.

"I think that was a little harsh," Slime Prince spoke up. "I didn't see that LSP did anything to deserve that…" A chorus of agreement went around the room.

"I honestly don't care what you guys think. You can leave too, if you like," Gumball said, coldly.

"Whenever you're ready to quit being rude and hateful to everyone, we'll come back," Slime Prince tossed his head and the group of party-goers all left.

"Gumball, that… that wasn't…" Marshall made a face. "That wasn't… exactly what I had in mind."

"I don't really care if it was. I'm tired of him always belittling me and insulting me." Gumball frowned.

"Gumball, I think that you're actually just-"

"Sorry I'm late!" Fionna burst in, excitedly. "Hey, guys, sorry I'm late to… where is everyone?"

"They left," Gumball raised an eyebrow. "Apparently I was being too big a jerk for them to stay."

Fionna looked surprised. "What? Why would they think that! You're like the nicest guy ever!"

"Yeah, well, not anymore," Gumball walked over to the punch table, pouring himself a glass.

"Well, why not?" Fionna demanded.

"I don't want to," Gumball turned and looked over at her. "Marshall taught me how to be manly so that's what I'm doing."

Marshall winced. _I didn't mean for this to happen… _"Hey now, wait, I didn't mean to teach you to be… like that."

"I think you're going about it the wrong way, Gumball! I'm plenty manly and you don't see me running everyone off, do you?" Fionna questioned.

Gumball looked over at her, thoughtfully. "… No, you're right, Fionna. I don't! Teach me how to be manly, then."

Fionna nodded. "Yeah! I can do that! Come on! I can't teach you in here!... Bye, Marshall!" She dragged Gumball outside to give him lessons in manliness.

Marshall sighed aloud. _Well, maybe now he'll give up on whatever he was doing before… Whenever that guy does something, he doesn't do it lightly. He drove EVERYONE away. Maybe Fionna will be able to teach him better than I did. _

A few days later, Marshall went to check in on Gumball. He entered Gumball's room and startled at what he saw. "Gumball, what are you doing?"

"I'm getting ready to go out and fight creatures with Fionna," he raised an eyebrow. "She's taught me a lot about manliness."

Marshall felt like the rug had been pulled out from underneath him. If he'd been standing on a rug. "Fight creatures?"

"Yes, and then we'll have spitting contests and see who can throw rocks the farthest!" Gumball nodded, before heading out the door, leaving Marshall to look after him, stupefied.


End file.
